1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments disclosed herein relate to a beam steering device and a system employing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beam steering methods to steer a beam to a desired location include a method of rotating a part of a device on which a beam is to be irradiated and an optical array (OPA) method.
A motor, micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) mirror, or the like is used to steer a beam to a desired location in the case of a beam steering method which includes rotating a part of a device on which a beam is to be irradiated. When a motor is used, the volume and price of a steering system increase and also noise may occur due to the motor. When a MEMS mirror is used, a narrow viewing angle is generated, and when high power light is emitted, a light-transmitting distance may be shortened due to stress applied to the MEMS mirror.
In the OPA method, a beam is steered based on a change in a phase of light emitted from a plurality of unit cells or a plurality of optical waveguides, the unit cells or the optical waveguides forming several channels for generating different phases. Thus, the beam may be steered into an intended direction by a combination of the phases output from the respective channels.
In a related art OPA method, a phase variation degree is adjusted by adjusting a length to be modulated of a modulation region of a channel. However, when a fault occurs in the modulation region, the fault cannot be repaired, and thus, beam steering performance may be lowered. In addition, since the length to be modulated is fixed, it may be necessary to compensate for a phase uniformity problem between channels.